1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coaxial connector for connecting a coaxial cable to a receptacle.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of very small and thin communication equipment has recently become more prevalent. Correspondingly, electronic components used in such equipment have very small sizes and low heights. Coaxial connectors are also required to have smaller sizes and lower heights. Known coaxial connectors of this type are described in, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-50720 and International Application WO2006/087953.
The coaxial connector described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-50720 includes, as illustrated in FIG. 11, a housing 130 connected to an outer conductor 101 of a coaxial cable 100 and having a tubular portion 131 which is capable of being press-fitted and locked into a groove 122 formed in an outer conductor 121 of a receptacle 120, a socket 135 connected to a center conductor 102 of the coaxial cable 100 and connected to a center conductor 123 of the receptacle 120, and an insulating bushing 136 fitted over the tubular portion 131 of the housing 130 and holding the socket 135.
In the coaxial connector of FIG. 11, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 12, the tubular portion 131 of the housing 130 has a substantially C-shape with a gap 131a left at one side and has a lock portion 132 formed along an entire circumference of the tubular portion 131 so as to project into the groove 122 which is formed in the outer conductor 121 of the receptacle 120. When the tubular portion 131 is attached to and detached from the outer conductor 121, the lock portion 132 constitutes a cantilevered beam while a portion C diametrically opposite to the gap 131a serves as a fulcrum. Therefore, any point of the beam over an entire beam length L acts as a point of effort (as indicated by hatching).
Considering the cantilevered beam from the viewpoint of dynamics, a larger force is required to generate a certain displacement of the beam as the point of effort approaches the fulcrum C. Accordingly, a load required to press-fit the tubular portion 131 at a point near the fulcrum C is increased to such an extent that the load tends to exceed a spring elastic limit displacement. This may result in a risk that the lock portion 132 and/or the groove 122 is plastically deformed and the coaxial connector can no longer be used even after attaching and detaching the coaxial connector once. In particular, because the height of the tubular portion 131 is reduced due to the above-described recent tendency toward the lower height of the coaxial connector, it is more difficult to ensure sufficient spring elasticity of the tubular portion 131.